Butterfly Sanctuary Created at Mill Pond School

A classroom of fourth grade students at created a milkweed garden that will soon be designated by the state as a butterfly sanctuary. The project was the culmination of a unit of study on Monarch butterflies.

“We hatched butterflies,” said Andrew, one of the students of Room 108. “We let them go in the garden.”

Led by teacher Sheila Labriola, the class studied the life cycle of Monarch butterflies. The students learned that the butterflies lay eggs under the leaves of milkweed plants. They watched as the eggs developed into caterpillars.

“It ate and ate and ate! It got really fat,” one student exclaimed. “Then we saw it hatch into a butterfly!”

Once the butterflies hatched, the students took them behind the school and let them fly free.

“We released them in the garden,” said Andrew. “They fly to Mexico.”

Each year, millions of Monarchs head to Mexico. While scientists are not completely sure why the butterflies make the annual migration, they have theorized that the circadian clock of the butterfly may play a large role.

“The antennae tell them how to get there,” said one of the students of Room 108. She said that when scientists painted the antennae of some butterflies, the insects were unable to navigate to Mexico.

Once the students freed the Monarchs, they started to plan the milkweed garden. Labriola ordered 10 milkweed plants from in Westborough, using a grant provided by the .

“We used math to measure the garden,” said Olivia. “We made 2 rows of 3 plants and one of four plants." The students measured the perimeter and area to ensure that the plants were 3 feet apart.

“We had to Ph test the soil,” Labriola said. “Milkweed needs acidic soil.” The class found that the Mill Pond School soil was rocky and acidic. “Farmer Harvey said it was very acidic because of the pine trees nearby,” she said.

The students agreed that digging the rocky soil was the hardest part of the project.

Hatching the butterflies and planning a butterfly sanctuary covered many units of study, said Labriola. Students used lessons in math, science, language arts and social studies.

Labriola said that when the state declares the new garden a Monarch sanctuary, no one can cut it down. The state will provide a plaque for the students to put in the garden to identify it as a sanctuary.

The Monarchs are in their travels to and from Mexico, but they will return, the students explained. “Usually in early August,” said Labriola.

That is when the butterflies will begin a new life cycle by laying their eggs under the leaves of milkweed plants, perhaps in the new milkweed garden at Mill Pond School.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on the latest Westborough news, or simply hit the "like" button at the top of this page. If you'd like to receive the Westborough Patch newsletter with our top stories, click here.